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Lou Thesz
| death_place = | resides = | billed = St. Louis, Missouri | trainer = George Tragos Ad Santel | debut = 1932 | retired = 1979 }} Aloysius Martin Thesz (April 24, 1916 – April 28, 2002), better known under the ring name Lou Thesz, was an American professional wrestler. He holds legendary status in pro wrestling for his innovative wrestling techniques, as well as for his unification of numerous versions of the World Heavyweight Championship into one title. Career At an early age Thesz's father would give him vigorous lessons in Greco-Roman wrestling style, which would help him once he joined the wrestling team in his high school. He would make his professional wrestling debut at the age of 16 in 1932 By 1937 Thesz would become one of the biggest stars in the American Wrestling Association and would defeat Everett Marshall and win the American Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship, making him the youngest world champion at the age of 21 In 1948 Thesz, had fully run his own wrestling promotion until it was sucked in by the National Wrestling Alliance. However part of the deal between Thesz and promoter Sam Muchnick was a title unification match between him and Midwest World Heavyweight Champion Orville Brown. Brown would get into a car accident before the match, thus ending his career. Thesz would be awarded the NWA World Heavyweight Championship In 1957 Thesz would suffer a back injury in a title defense against Edouard Carpentier. Even though he would lose the match the title changed wouldn't be recognized. Later that year he would have a successful title defense in Japan. Thesz wanted to continue to defend his championship in Japan which was refused and instead Thesz would drop the title to Dick Hutton. Thesz would come out of semi-retirement in 1963 to defeat real life rival Buddy Rogers winning his sixth World Championship at the age of 46. He would drop the title in 1966 to Gene Kiniski and would wrestle on a part-time basis. His last notable title run was in 1978 becoming the Universal Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Champion at the age of 62 He would have his final match against protege Masahiro Chono on December 26, 1990 at the age of 74 Later Life and Death Thesz would spend the rest of his years as a Color Commentator, manager, promoter, and trainer. In 1992 he would become president of the Cauliflower Alley Club, an organization recognizing and supporting retired wrestlers and actors who enjoyed an association with wrestling. He lived in Norfolk, Virginia for the rest of his life and started his own wrestling school called the Virginia Wrestling Academy in 1988. He wrote and Autobiography titled Hooker. ''On April 9, 2002 he would have triple bypass surgery for an aortic valve replacement. He would pass away weeks later in Orlando, Florida after complications from that surgery. In wrestling * '''Finishing Moves' ** Lou Thesz press ** STF * Signature Moves ** Backdrop Suplex ** Belly to Belly Suplex * Wrestlers Trained ** Antonio Inoki ** Giant Baba ** Masahiro Chono ** Jumbo Tsuruta Championships and Accomplishments *'American Wrestling Association' **AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Boston version) (1 time) **AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Ohio version) (1 time) *'Cauliflower Alley Club' **Iron Mike Mazurki Award (1998) *'International Wrestling Enterprise' **TWWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'Midwest Wrestling Association (Ohio)' **MWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'Missouri Sports Hall of Fame' (Class of 2002) *'Montreal Athletic Commission' **World Heavyweight Championship (Montreal version) (4 times) *'National Wrestling Alliance' **NWA World Heavyweight Championship (4 times) **NWA International Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **NWA Pacific Coast Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (1 time) – with The Outlaw **NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Nashville version) (1 time) **NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times) **NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (3 times) **NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Mississippi version) (1 time) **NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Championship (Mid-America version) (1 time) **NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2005) *'National Wrestling Association' **NWA World Heavyweight Championship (3 times) *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' **PWI Stanley Weston Award (1982) *'Southwest Sports Inc.' **Texas Heavyweight Championship (3 Times) *'St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame '(Class of 2007) *'Universal Wrestling Association' **UWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'World Wrestling Association (Los Angeles)' **WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame' (1999) *'Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame' (Class of 2002) *'World Championship Wrestling' **WCW Hall of Fame (Class of 1993) *'Worldwide Wrestling Associates' **WWA International Television Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Sailor Art Thomas **WWA World Heavyweight Championship *'Wrestling Observer Newsletter' **Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996) *'World Wrestling Entertainment' **WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2016) **Legends Battle Royal Winner (1997) External links * Profile * Lou Thesz profile at Online World of Wrestling * Profile * WWE.com Profile Category:American wrestlers Category:Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Category:George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Category:Commentators Category:Wrestling executives Category:Managers and valets Category:NWA International Heavyweight Champions Category:NWA World Heavyweight Champions Category:Wrestlers who have died Category:1916 births Category:1932 debuts Category:1979 retirements Category:2002 deaths Category:Alex Turk Promotions alumni Category:All Japan Pro Wrestling alumni Category:American Wrestling Association alumni Category:Central States Wrestling alumni Category:Championship Wrestling From Florida alumni Category:Continental Wrestling Association alumni Category:Eastern Sports Association alumni Category:Georgia Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Japan Wrestling Association alumni Category:Jim Crockett Promotions alumni Category:Maple Leaf Wrestling alumni Category:National Wrestling Alliance alumni Category:New Japan Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Stampede Wrestling alumni Category:St. Louis Wrestling Club alumni Category:Superstars Of Wrestling alumni Category:Universal Wrestling Association alumni Category:World Championship Wrestling alumni Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni Category:Missouri wrestlers Category:Male wrestlers Category:WWE Hall of Fame Legacy Inductee